Sudan starts exporting refined oil
KHARTOUM, June 6 (AFP) - Sudan has joined the club of nations
exporting refined oil products, seeing off Monday a Turkish tanker
loaded with 20,000 tonnes of benzine for Malta, a newspaper reported
Tuesday.
The official Al Anbaa daily said the ship was seen off from Port
Sudan on the Red Sea in a ceremony attended by ministers and senior
government officials who hailed the fact that Sudan has now switched
from being an importer to an exporter of petroleum products.
Sudan has been exporting some 20,000 barrels per day of crude
oil since last October.
It ceased importing oil products a month ago when Khartoum
refinery, some 50 kilometres (35 miles) north of the capital, began
operations to meet local demand and export the surplus.
The refinery is a joint venture by the Sudanese government and
the Chinese National Petrolem Company (CNPC).
Its output is taken to Port Sudan through a pipeline which was
originally built in 1977 to move imported oil products in the other
direction.
Speaking at Monday's ceremony, energy ministry secretary general
Hassan Mohamed Ali al-Toam said the refinery would also produce five
times the domestic consumption of gas, which is currently 100,000
tonnes a year.
The surplus gas will begin to be exported in two weeks' time,
but will later be used to fuel a power station designed to yield 200
megawatts of electricity, Toam said.
He announced that the price of gas for local consumers would, as
of Wednesday, be cut by half, from 20,000 Sudanese pounds (about
eight dollars) per cylinder to 10,000 pounds.
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SUDAN/BENZINE EXPORT
Port Sudan, June 5 (SUNA)- The process of exporting Sudanese benzine via Port Sudan harbour began Monday at the initial rate of 40,000 tonnes monthly.
This rate of benzine exports is due to increase to 60,000 tonnes per month later.
The first quantity of the Sudanese benzine, reaching 20,000 tonnes, is shipped by a British company from Port-Sudan to Malta.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Energy and Mining Monday held a celebration in Port Sudan town on the occasion which was attended by the Wali of the Red Sea State and federal and the state's ministers and a big number of citizens.
At the celebration, the Minister of Energy and Mining, Dr. Awad Ahmed Al-Jaz, turned a valve at a benzine reservoir to mark commencement of the Sudanese benzine exportation.
Dr. Al-Jaz and other senior officials inspected the Turkish ship which will carry the first Sudanese benzine shipment.
The benzine pumping in the ship began at 09:00 pm on Sunday and due to last for 48 hours, before leaving Port-Sudan harbour on Tuesday.
SUNA learned that the duration of benzine pumping into tankers would drop from 48 hours to 12 only after introduction of new pumps. |
